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DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS 



A DISCOURSE, 



PREACHED IN THE STATE-HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD, IILINOIS, 



JANUARY" 86, 1- > 1 , 



BY J< M. PECK. 



PUBLISH!:!) BV REQUEST. 



fouia: 

PRINTED HV T. W. OSTICK, C01NEH OF SECOND IND I << : r 81 

1851. 









. 



INTRODUCTION 



The following documents are submitted, as the reason for 
publishing this discourse. 



House of Representatives, January 24, 1851. 
Rev. Sir : I have the honor to inform you, that the House of Representatives yester- 
day, unanimously, passed the following resolution : 

" On motion of Mr. Murphy, 
"Resolved, That the Rev. J. M. Peck, of St. Clair county, be invited to preach a 
sermon in the hall of the House of Representatives, on next Sabbath afternoon, showing 
that the obligations of American citizens to obey the constitution and laws of our 
national government do not conflict with any 'higher law' m the Sacred Scriptures." 
I am, sir, very respect fully, 

roar obedient servant, 

ISAAC R. DILLER, Clerk If. R 
Rev. J. M. Peck. 



Spuinohklh, III., January 27, 1851. 
Dbab Sir: Saving listened, with great pleasure, to your discourse, pronounced on 
yesterday, in the hall of ill" Bouse of Representatives, on the obligation of citizens to 
obey the hv»p of the country, and with reference to a supposed "higher law," and 
deeming your exposition of that subject to be sound, practical, and scriptural, we 
respectfully py of the discourse for publication. 



At this time, when, unfortunately, so many of the clergy of our country arc counte- 
nancing rebellion and treason, and seriously impairing the moral sense of the people 
with regard to the constitution of the country, we are gratified to find, in the discourse 
referred to, sentiments so conservative in their character, and so well calculated to 
exert a favorable influence upon the public mind. 
Respectfully, yours, 

SIDNEY BREESE, Speaker of the House of Reps. 
THOS. H. CAMBPELL, Auditor of State. 
A. G. CALDWELL, Representative. 
R. G. MURPHY, 
N. W. EDWARDS, 
JOHN E. DETRICH, 
CYRUS G. SIMONS, 
NELSON G. EDWARDS, " 
JOHN MOORE, Treasurer of State. 
NEWTON CLOUD, Senator. 
U. F. LINDER, Representative, 
J. L. D. MORRISON, Senator. 
JOSEPH GILLESPIE, Senator. 
WM. H. SNYDER, Representative. 
J. R. WYNN, 
T. M. SAMS. 
J. R. HOBBS, 
H. ARMS, 
S. H. MARTI X. 
AARON SHAW, 
A. MILLER, 

ANTHONY THORNTON, « 
WM. PICKERING, 
WM. D. HAMTLTOX. 
WILFRED FERREL, 
B. F. BRISTOW, 
B. T. BURKE, 
THOMAS QUICK. 
AUG. C. FRENCH, Governor. 
WM. McMURTRY, Lieutenant Governor. 
FRANKLIN WITT, Senator. 
R. S. BLACKWELL. 
W. A. DENNING. 
M BRAYMAN. 
CYRUS EDWARDS. 
W. T. BEEKMAX. 
THOS. L. LITTLE. 
J. G. JOHNSON. 
JAMES DUNLAP. 
Rev. J. M. Pe. k. 

[ Benjamin Bond, Marshal of the State, did not hear the discourse, but signed the 
call for printing, on recommendation of his friends.] 



5 

REPLY. 

(it.NTLEMEx: In accordance with your invitation, I commit the discourse, I had the 
honor to preach in the State-house, to the press, with my earnest prayer, that it may 
prove useful in discriminating between the duties of religion men owe to God, and 
which are paramount to all human authority — and the duties they owe to the "powers 
that be." 

While, in the South, " nullification" and " secession, the fruits of political enthusiasm 
excited to phrenzy, have destroyed the balance of judgment in many minds — in the 
Xorth, religious fanaticism has perverted the intellect and conscience, confounded religion 
with politics, taught the people to rebel against civil authority, and proclaimed prin- 
ciples which are subversive of all law and all government. It is in entire accordance 
with a fundamental principle of the denomination with which I- stand connected as a 
minister, and with sentiments imbibed in early life, to chaw the line of distinction be 
tween the relation we sustain to God, and the relation we sustain to each other, as 
citizens of our common country. 

With sentiments of esteem and respect, 

I am yours, truly, 

J. M.. PECK. 



SERMON. 



Fellow-Citizens : In this discourse, I shall briefly comment 
on several passages of the Sacred Scriptures. 
The first is from Acts iv. 17-20 : 

"But that it spread no further amongst the people, let us straitly threaten them, 
that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. 

" And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all, or to teach in 
Ihe name of Jesus. 

" But Peter and John answered, and said unto them, Whether it be right, in the 
sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 

••' For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." 

Human duties, or the principles of moral obligation, are di- 
vided into two great classes — the duties men owe to God, and 
the duties they owe to one another. 

The distinction between these classes of duties constitutes the 
line of demarcation between religion and politics — church and 
state. 

The prohibition, enjoined by the Jewish magistrates on Peter 
and John, related to the first class of human duties — those of 
religion, over which human authority has no control. It was 
not because the prohibition was oppressive, but because it 
trenched on their obligations to God as Christians — as believers 
in, and worshipers of, Jesus Christ, that they refused to obey 
the mandate. No human authority could interfere with this 
right. There could be no submission — no compromise. Their 
Divine Lord had taught them to suffer persecution even unto 
death. Even this must be borne with meekness and patience. 
Where this " higher law" exerts its claims, all resistance is 
forbidden. Violent contention for rights is wholly forbidden in 
the Gospel. 

In earthly governments, forcible resistance, in revolution or 
war, is proper, but not in promoting or sustaining the kingdom 
of Christ. 

The Apostles continued to preach Jesus and the resurrection. 
Although Stephen and James were martyred — the life of Peter 
sought, and the disciples were scattered abroad — yet, on their 
part, there was no resistance. 

In all the duties of religion, the claims of God are supreme, 
and paramount to all human authority ; bu1 to apply the passage 
in Acts, and the non-obedience of the Aposth s to the mandates 
of the Jewish authorities, to laws th;it regulate the relationship 
of man to man, is a manifesl perversion of Scripture. It is thus 
perverted and misapplied by Abolitionists, in reference to the 
constitution and laws of the United States. 



8 DUTIES OF AM Ki; I can CITIZENS. 

I now refer you to Romans xiii. 1-5: 

" Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but 
of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. 

••Whosoever therefore resisted) the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and 
they that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation. 

" For rulers are not a terror to good works, but In the evil. Wilt thou then not 
be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shnlt have praise of the 
same. 

t "Fot he is the minister of God to thee for good; but if thou do that which is 
evil, be afraidj for he beareth not the sword in' vain ; for he is the minister of 
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that docth evil. 

" Wherefore ve must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience 
sake.- - ' 

Reference may also be had to Titus iii. 1: 

"Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates 
to be ready to every good work." 

These several passages are in no respect contradictory to the 
refusal to obey the civil authority mentioned in the fourth chap- 
ter in Acts. Obedience to civil authority is enjoined — to all 
laws pertaining to the relationship of man to man. Christ taught 
his disciples to " render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's ; 
and unto God, the things that are God's." (Math. xxii. 21.) 
This is a very plain distinction between two governments, and 
two kinds of authority. The government of Cesar was arbitrary, 
despotic, and oppressive ; yet submission was required — re- 
sistance to civil authority forbidden. The mode of collecting 
tribute was exceedingly unequal and oppressive, yet Christ 
wrought a miracle to procure the tribute money, (Math. xvii. 
27,) and thus taught his disciples their duty as subjects to the 
Roman government. 

It was only when the government interfered with theifreligious 
rights — the duty they owed to God, that they were to resist, by 
patient endurance of persecution, even unto death. 

This line of distinction between religion and politics — between 
church and state — has never been distinctly drawn in any nation 
in Christendom, except in our country. As a political idea, 
practically carried out in government and law, it belongs ex- 
clusively to our nation. No other government ever recognized 
the unalienable right of man to worship God in the manner he 
thinks proper, or not worship in any way. irrespective of human 
authority in every form. Christ taught the true principle of 
religious liberty in his confession before Pilate, (John xviii. 36.) 
My kingdom is not of this worlds if ! "!J kingdom were of this 
world, then would my servants fight, that I .should not be deliv- 
eredto the Jews. Religious communities, from the days of the 
Apostles, have held this principle inviolate; but they have been 
few. obscure, and classed by ecclesiastical historians among 
heretics. The doctrine itself, for fifteen hundred years, was 
regarded as a most dangerous heresy. This principle, with a 
single exception, did not exist in the early American colonies. 
Those of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, 
made stringent laws againsl heretics, as they called dissenters 



DUTIES OF AMKKK'.W CITIZENS. *j 

to tlic established and legalized mode of worship. In their pro- 
gressive history, toleratioii, not religious freedom, gradually 
prevailed. 

Such was the condition of New York, Virginia, and the Car- 
olinas, until the revolutionary war. Liberal Pennsylvania and 
Catholic Maryland admitted large toleration. The only excep- 
tion in all the early colonies was Rhode Island, founded by Roo-er 
Williams. When this reformer announced, in the town of Salem, 
Massachusetts, that the magistrate had no power to legislate 
concerning the first table of the Law — of man's duty to God — 
the Puritans were amazed at the heresy of the minister. He 
made the distinction which is now clear as the sun. He caught 
the grand idea, the true and only principle of religious liberty. 

Mr. Bancroft, the historian, eloquently says: 

'• He was a Puritan and a fugitive from English persecution; but his wrongs had 
not clouded his accurate understanding. In the capacious recesses of his mind lie 
had revolved the nature of intolerance, and he, and he alone, bad arrived at the 
great principle which is its sole and effectual remedy. He announced his discovery 
under the simple proposition of the sanctity of conscience. The magistrate should 
restrain crime, hut never control opinion; should punish guilt, but never violate 
the freedom of the soul. 

"The doctrine contained within itself an entire reformation of Theological Juris- 
prudence. It would blot from the statute hook the felony of non-conformity ; would 
quench the fires that persecution had so Long kept burning; would repeal every law 
compelling attendance on public worship ; would abolish all tithes and all forced 
contributions to the maintenance of religion; would give an equal protection to 
every form of religious faith; and never suffer the civil government to be enlisted 
against the mosque of the Mussulman, or the altar of the; fire worshiper; against 
the Jewish synagogue, or the Roman cathedral. 

••'These principles led Roger Williams into collision with the Puritan clergy and 
commonwealth of Massachusetts. He could hold no communion with intolerance; 
for, said he, the doctrine of ; □ foi cause of conscience is most evidently 

and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus." 

Here, then, is the true line of distinction. If human authority 
violates the laws of God in relation to the first class of human 
duties, men must resist, by patient endurance of suffering. But 
whatever relates to the second table of the decalogue comes 
within the sphere of human government, to which submission 
is required as a Christian duty. 

I have dwelt longer on this principle than I otherwise should, 
"because, in the resistance urged to the constitution and laws of 
Congress by Abolitionists, they have confounded these two 
classes of human duties, and perverted the Scriptures, in so 
doing. After all that has been said on the subject, there are 
ministers of the Gospel, and members of churches, whose per- 
ceptions of this line of distinction between religion and politics 
— church and state — are. very obscure. They would not be the 
advocates of sustaining any particular sect by direcl legal meas- 
ures, yet they have some vague notions that religion should 
guide the statesman; that the church, in some - 
ulate the state. This was the doctrine of the Puritans who 
settled New England; and, until within the present generation, 
Massachusetts and Connecticut provided, by taxation, for the 
2 



10 DUTIES OF AMERICAS CITIZENS. 

support of the dominant sect. Toleration existed ; but tolera- 
tion is not religious freedom. Still tlie sentiment exists, to a 
large extent, that the church should exert an influence over the 
affairs of the state and national government. It is from this 
source that has originated the doctrine of a "higher law," that 
overrides the constitution, and nullifies laws that pertain to the 
relation of man to his fellow-man. 

Each person, for himself, assumes, to determine whether he 
will submit to be governed by the constitution and obey the 
laws of his country, either by an innate principle within himself, 
or by his notions of Scripture, however misapplied and misun- 
derstood. This doctrine, carried out to its legitimate conse- 
quences, would nullify all law ; as it was in a period of anarchy 
in the Jewish nation, when " every man did that which was 
right in his own eyes." (Judges xxi. 25.) 

That it may be seen that I do not exaggerate the wild, 
anarchical, licentious doctrines proclaimed from the pulpit — 
issued from the religious (?) press — and uttered with all the 
solemnity of ecclesiastical councils, I will give a few quotations. 

In reference to the fugitive slave law, the First Presbyterian 

Church in Chicago passed a series of resolutions and a preamble, 

of which I give the last, as a sample of the whole. 

" As Christians, we do not recommend physical force to oppose this law, and -we dis- 
approve of all combinations for resistance by force of arms, and the shedding of blood-, 
but, nevertheless, we cannot regard it as criminal in the alleged fugitive, (in the posi- 
tion in which the fugitive slnve law places him,) to defend himself, even, if need be, 
with violence, inasmuch as he is, by the operation of this law, placed beyond all pro- 
tection common to civilized society, and is thereby thrown back upon those rights 
which belong to a man in a state of nature, or before society is organized."* 

Were principles more lawless and disorganizing, ever before 
inculcated by a body of christian professors? 

A semi-annual meeting of the " American Baptist Free Mission 
Society," an organization of a small class of Baptists in the 
northern States, who oppose the " American Baptist Mission 
Union," the "American Baptist Home Mission Society," and 
other Baptist institutions of those States, was held in Chicago, 
October 8th and 9th, 1850. The editor of the official paper of 
this sect, writing of the introductory sermon, says : 

" It was one of the most masterly vindications of the supremacy of Jehovah, however 
human governments may undertake to contravene bis authority, we ever had the pleas 
ure of listening to. The subject may, perhaps, have been suggested to the mind of the 
speaker by the recent passage of thai 'bill of abominations,' the fugitive slave law- — 
wherein the government of this nation, literally ' Erai a law,' has proved 



* In justice to the Presbyterian denomination in Illinois, :md other churches in 

Chicago, we state, on the authority of Presbyterian gentlemen of that city, that this 
"First Church," as u is called, some years since, by a majority o( it- members, and in 
opposition to the runng eldi rs, gave countenan - classes of tdtraists by open- 

ing their house to lecturers, and encouraging fanaticism in various forms. The elders 

and old members, (s eof whom we knew a- Leading anti-slavery men in southern 

Illinois, in the contest about introducing slavery into the State in 1828-4,) were com- 
pelled to withdraw. At much sacrifice and expense, they raised up the Second Presby- 
terian Church in Chicago, where correct principles are inculcated, and order maintained. 

J. M. P. 



DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 11 

itself a ' throne of iniquity,' and one that can have no 'fellowship' with God. _ Whether 
this were so or not, the impious demand of the law upon the co-operation of all good 
citizens in the recapture of those who have fled from a crushing bondage, was shown to 
have beer, put forth in contempt of the divine precept, 'Thou shalt not deliver unto his 
master the servant who has escaped from his master unto thee.' 

"Nor did the preacher fail to make a faithful application of the principle of Ins text, 
(Acts v. •29.) to this, the most flagitious act ever perpetrated by an American Congress. 
The -meeting itself had this matter under consideration." — American Baptist, Utica, 
K Y. Oct. 17. 

The " Baptist Convention of the State of Michigan," at its 
session in Detroit, October, 1850, passed the following resolu- 
tion : 

•• Resolw d, That the recent law of Congress relative to the recapture of fugitive slaves, 
violating, as it does, every guaranty of personal rights— setting aside all the ordinary 
forms of law — giving an exclusive regard to the interests of the slaveholder, and re- 
quiring freemen and Christians, in order to its enforcement, to violate their obligations 
to humanity, to conscience', and to God— is a flagrant violation of civil and moral rights, 
and calls for prompt and efficient effort on the part of all Christian citizens, by all law- 
ful measures, to obtain its speedy repeal."* 

At a public meeting held in Worcester, Mass., about the 1st 
of October, 1850, Hon. Charles Thurber presiding, the following 
resolution, among others equally treasonable and lawless, was 
passed : 

"That as God is our helper, we will nut suffer any person charged with helping 
a fugitive from labor, to be taken from us ; and to this resolve we pledge our lives, 
our fortunes, and our sacred honors." 

The Christian Chronicle, of Philadelphia, Oct. 30th, states : 
« At a convention of Unitarian clergy, held in Springfield, Mass., a resolution was 
unanimously passed in favor of the repeal of the fugitive slave bill, which occasioned 
much debate and much excited feeling." 

The Universalists of Boston Association, held at South Read- 
ing, Massachusetts, November 14th, 1850, passed the following 
resolution, unanimously : 

" Resolved, That we feel called on to utter our deep condemnation of the fugitive 
slave law, lately enacted by Congress. We deem it cruel, subversive of human 
rights, a clear violation of God ; s laws, and therefore unworthy a Christian's support 5 
and in the name of outraged humanity, we call for its unconditional repeal." 

I find in the papers (and to which I have seen no contradic- 
tion) extracts from a sermon preached in the city of New York, 
by Rev. Charles Beecher, against the fugitive slave law ; from 
which I give the following, as the style of preaching by these 
fanatics : 

« This law, then, is wrong in the sigh! of God and man 5 it is an unexampled climax: 
of sin. It is the monster of iniquity of the present age; and it will stand forever on 
the pageof history, as the vilest monument of infamy of the nineteenth century. 
Russia Knows nothing like it. Hungary blesses God thai she never suffered from 
any thing worse than Ilaynau. And nations afar off pause awhile from their wor- 
ship of blocks of wood and stone, to ask, what will those Christians do next? 

* It is with feelings of deep mortification, thai equal and exact justice to all require? 
us to give th ;se lat n tan of ah trration from the truth, and from the funds 

mental principles of the Baptisl denomination in all pasl time, in the Line of distinction 
alluded tobetwixl rehgionand politics— the kingdom of Christand the kingdom of 
Cesar. Of late years, the dogmas of the Puritans, who founded their church and their 
civil government on the Jewish theocracy, and thus caused the church to rule the Btate, 
have crept into Baptist churches in the northern fil 

The articles quoted utter untrutli They either wickedly nr ignornntly mi represent 



12 DUTTES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

" There is yet one step wanting to render complete and awful in the sight of God 
our mighty guilt ; and that step is obedience to the law. Thai is a sin even moreex- 
quisitety sinful limn the making of the law i'-self, for two reasons; — -first, because it 
has the whole atruciousness of the law itself; and, secondly, because it has the whole 
utrociousness of a stab at the freedom of conscience, and of private judgment. 

"If this law is obeyed, what docs a Christian do, and why does he do it? I 
answer, he commits an act of piracy, and tie docs it hecause the law says so, and 
hecause he must obey the law, right or wrong, as long as it is a law." 

I might mutiply quotations from a hundred sources, hut I have 
time and space for but oue more, which is extracted from a 
sermon by Rev. Ichabod S. Spencer, D. D., preached in the 
second Presbyterian church, Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1850, 
entitled " Fugitive Slave Law. Religious duty of obedience to 
law." The sermon of Dr. Spencer is sound, and clearly dis- 
tinguishes the " two great classes of human duties." To show 
the extravagance and recklessness of northern fanatics, he 
quotes the following resolution, as adopted by the " JVcw York 
Evangelical Congregational Association" in reference to the 
fugitive slave law : 

" Resolved, That we cannot recognize this law as of any binding force upon the 
citizens of our country." 

From the same discourse, I quote the following from an edi- 
torial article, in a religions paper, edited by Congregational 
clergymen, holding the office of pastors of churches, under the 
caption, "How to oppose the fugitive law." 

One of these Christian (?) ministers, in his editorial article, 
says : 

" To the fugitives themselves * • • • this law is no law » • * • and 
to resist it even unto death, is their right, and it may be their duty. • * » » 
To each individual fugitive — to every man or woman who, having escaped from 
bondage, and tasted liberty, is in hourly peril of being seized and dragged hack to 
slavery,, we say — Be fully prepared for your defense. If to you death seems better 
than slavery, then refuse not to die — whether on the way-side, at your own threshold, 
or even as a felon on the gallows. Defend your liberty, and the liberty of your wife 
and children, as you would defend your life and theirs against the assassin. If you 
die thus, you die nobly, and your blood shall be the redemption of your race. Should 
you destroy the life of your assailant, you will pass into the custody of the criminal 
law • • » » under an indictment for murder ; but the verdict of the commu- 
nity, and the verdict of almost any jury, would be justifiable homicide in self-di fense. 

• * * • " Or should a different verdict be found, and you be condemned 
to die as a murderer, your ignominious death shall be luminous witn the halo of a 
martyr, and your sacrifice shall be for the deliverance of your people." 

I cannot conceive of more demoralizing doctrines, or more 
wicked principles, than are here uttered by men who profess to 



tha fugitive slave lr.w. We charitably presume the authors have never carefully 
examined the law — thattheyhave never compared the law of 1850 with the law of 
17'.':;, under which they have ever lived. But ignorance is no excuse for such palpable 
misstatements. 

[n justice to the Baptists and the public, it is her . to state, that in eccle- 

siastical polity, Baptists have always occupie I i round from the most of other 

Christian sects. In discipline and all that pertains to ecclesiastical authority, each 
church, or separate congregation, (of which there are abo fivchuudred 

in ihe United States,) i- independent of all others. Associations, Conventions, and 
other organizations, for missions and other purposes, hate no ecclesiastical power. 
Consequently, for all Buch resolutions as we have quoted, ponsi- 

bility but the individuals wlio make and adopt them. •'• v. ''• 



DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 13 

be ministers of Christ. They arc in rapid progress, in qualifi- 
cation, cither for the penctentiary, or the lunatic asylum. 

Our first objection to all such doings by ecclesiastical bodies 
and ministers of the Gospel, in their religious capacity, is the 
violation of the Gospel of Christ, and prostituting the Christian 
profession to political purposes. All men, who are citizens of 
the state or nation, can assemble, in a peaceable and lawful 
manner, to protest against any law, and to adopt measures to 
obtain its repeal; but no church, or other ecclesiastical body, 
lias any business to meddle with political subjects. It is a per- 
version of religious rights, and is an attempt, in an indirect 
mode, to make the church rule the state. 

It will be now my duty, and it comports with long established 
sentiments, to maintain the following propositions: 

I. It is the duty of American citizens to obey the constitution 
and laws of our national government. 

II. The constitution and laws, and especially the law to arrest 
fugitive slaves, do not co?y'lict with any " higher law" of the 

Sacred Scriptures. 

1. Our national government is not a religious institution. Its 

fundamental law recognizes and secures the rights of all classes 

of persons, of every form of religion, and of no religion. 

u Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibit 
the free exercise thereof."* 

The consentaneous interpretation given by the nation to this 
clause is this : That the national government cannot interfere 
with the free exercise of any sort of religion that does not inter- 
fere with the rights of others. Men are equally protected, 
whether they be Christians or not. 

The presumption is that no State has laws that interfere with 
this right. 

2. The passages of Scripture already quoted from Romans 
and Titus, are direct and explicit. They express, in terms that 
cannot be questioned, our duty, as Christians, to submit to human 
government in all the relations betwixt man and man. The only 
exception is in a revolution ; and that is a matter purely politi- 
cal, concerning which no church, or religious party, as such, lias 
the right of action. The declaration of Christ, (John xviii. 36,) 
already quoted, is proof. Revolution in government belongs to 
men in their capaeity as citizens, and not as religionists; and, 
in a republican government, like that of our nation, revolution 
is rebellion, and rebellion is political suicide. 

All political reform, in our government, cither in a State or the 
nation, can only be rightfully effected by the slow, but sure and 
safe, process of the ballot-box. All other modes are at war with 
the fundamental principles of a republican government and the 
unalienable rights of man. Hence, every citizen is bound, by the 



Art. I. Amendment.-) to (lie Constitution. 



14 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

highest obligation that can exist between man and man, to sus- 
tain the constitution and laws of the country : and every man 
who has taken the oath to support the constitution, and violates 
it, is guilty of perjury. The oath does not create the obliga- 
tion, but, in a solemn form, and in a judicial way, is an appeal 
to Heaven ; and the crime and sin of perjury belongeth to him 
who, in any way, plots the subversion of the constitution. 

Secondly. I shall now show that the constitution and laws, 
and especially the laiv to arrest fugitive slaves, do not conflict 
with any " higher law" in the Sacred Scriptures. 

It has been maintained by Senators and Representatives in 
Congress — concocted into resolutions in political meetings — 
published by editors of religious papers — declared in reports and 
resolutions by churches and other religious bodies — and preached 
from the pulpit by Christian ministers, that the laws of the Bible, 
as a " higher law," nullify the constitution, and the " fugitive 
slave law" under it. 

If this doctrine be correct, we ought to know it. It is a cor- 
rect principle, that when a government requires its subjects to 
violate the duties they owe to God, or forbids the free discharge 
of those duties, there is no alternative but to disobey, and suffer 
the consequences, whether the penalty be confiscation of goods, 
imprisonment, or death. 

In order to know where human authority ends, and the divine 
law becomes paramount, express revelation is necessary. It 
will not do to suppose a certain law to be in opposition to the 
law of God. We must not conjecture, or infer, that it is so. It 
will not do to take general principles and apply them to particu- 
lar and doubtful cases, bst, in their application, we be found 
wholly wrong. There is a divine law against idolatrous worship. 
We have no right to suppose that certain errors in worship are 
idolatrous, and, therefore, charge those who hold or practice 
these errors with the crime of idol-worship. We must employ 
and interpret all language pertaining to laws, whether divine or 
human, according to the common use of words, and sound prin- 
ciples of interpretation. The usus loquendi of language must 
be our guide. 

If the constitution of the United States, or of this State, or 
any of the laws enacted, do require us to violate the law of God, 
it must be because their words and sense are in direct conflict 
with the words and sense of the Scriptures. 

In discussing this subject, I have no occasion to justify, or 
vindicate, African slavery, as it exists in any country. 

The question, "Is it morally right, or morally wrong, for ns y 
as individuals, to buy and hold slaves," is altogether another 
question, that has no direct bearing on the one we are discuss- 
inrr. We must take facts as they exist, and have existed in our 
country for more than two hundred years. There are nearly 



DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 15 

three millions of the African race held as slaves. Their ances- 
tors were slaves ; they were purchased in Africa in a state of 
slavery. They were made slaves in war, or were purchased, 
and conveyed from one " headsman" to another, until they were 
purchased by European or American traders, and sold to the 
people in the American colonies. This race made slaves of 
each other, and sold their countrymen, and even their children, 
from the earliest period of the Grecian and Roman republics. 

Each colony in America, before the revolutionary war, made 
its own laws to purchase and to hold this people and their de- 
scendants in slavery. At one period, slavery existed by law in 
every colony. 

In some instances, European kingdoms made slave laws 
for their colonies. Thus, in the Illinois and Louisiana country, 
the King of France, as the sovereign, made a code of laws regu- 
lating slavery. Since the Revolution, each State has acted on 
this subject as a sovereignty : slaves are now held by virtue of 
State or municipal authority. 

Slavery was a very difficult subject to adjust in forming the 
constitution, not in relation to the seat of authority over it, but 
in adjusting the balance of power in congressional representa- 
tion, and in the election of President. The result was a com- 
promise, by counting five slaves the same as three white persons 
in the apportionment. 

The constitution of the United States provides for reclaiming 
two classes of fugitives. The clauses are in article iv., and 
second and third clauses of section two. 

The second clause reads : 

" A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or any other crime, who 
shall flee from justice, and be found in any other State, shall, on demand of the 
executive authority of the State from which he has fled, be delivered up, to be 
removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime." 

Here, I remark, that in action the same proceedings take place 
as in reclaiming a fugitive slave. 

Any " person charged with treason," &c. Persons are often 
charged with crime, and not found guilty on trial. The law 
holds all thus charged as innocent until tried and convicted in 
due course of law ; yet, on requisition, they are caught and 
" delivered up," and taken to another State. No habeas corpus 
— no trial by jury, is had in the case. 

The third clause in this section of the constitution applies to 

fugitive slaves; to apprentices and indentured white servants ; 

to all who " owe service or labor." It reads thus : 

" No person held to service or labor in one State under t ho laws thereof, esc 
into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dischargee! 
from such service or labor ; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to 
such service or labor may be due." 

Under this clause of the constitution, Congress, in February, 

1793, made a law prescribing the manner in which the claimant 

should proceed, and by what authority the fugitive should be 



16 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

delivered up. No habeas corpus was needed — no trial by jury 
provided. A trial in Massachusetts, on the legality of the claim 
on a fugitive from Virginia, would be preposterous. Every man 
must be tried by the laws of the State he is charged with violat- 
ing ; not by the laws of the State into which he has tied. 

Under this old law, the claimant could apprehend and brino- the 
fugitive slave before any justice of the peace, or judge of a State 
court, and, on ex parte evidence, he would be delivered up. If 
he did not " owe service or labor" in the State from which he 
fled, or to the person who claimed him, he could there appeal to 
the law, and have a trial by jury. Such has been the law of the 
land from 1793, and such continues to be the taw, with the fol- 
lowing modifications : The old law required State officers to 
execute this law of the United States government. A i'uw years 
since, this feature was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme 
Court. Following this decree, and under the abolition excite- 
ment, some of the northern States enacted laws forbidding their 
officers to aid in the execution of the fugitive slave law. The 
law of the last session of Congress was made to carry out the 
provision of the constitution by officers of the United States 
government. 

So far as the slave is concerned, the new law gives more pro- 
tection than the old one. It provides commissioners, appointed by 
United States authority, before whom the slave is to be brought, 
and who is to decide on the claim. On all those persons who aid 
slaves to runaway, or who protect or secrete them ; who inter- 
rupt the course of law, or raise riots and insurrections, the new 
law is far more stringent than the old one. It puts a strong' arm 
on those Abolitionists who, in public, or in secret, aid fugitive 
slaves to escape to the northern States and to Canada.* 

• The fugitive slave bill of 1792-3 was drafted by Hon. George Cabot, of Massa- 
chusetts, in November, 1792, and it passed the Senate on the I8th of January, L793, 
unanimously — fourteen members from States now free, and thirteen members from 
now Blaveholding Stat, s, voting for ii. The committee of the II rose (Theodore Sedg- 
wick ami Sheerjashub Bourne, of Massachusetts, and Alexander White, of Virginia,) 
reported the hill to that body, by which it was p issed, on the 5th of February, with- 
out discussion. Eighl States, now free, were represented by thirty-one votes; six 
now slavehol , by twentj , seven. The bill 

passed bya vote of foi peas to seven nays. Massachusetts gave six peas* 

and one nay. This show on-slaveholding passed the first fog 

slave law. — [See J rs.~\ 

A writer in the Boston Courier, Octohcr, 1S50, states: 

"The restoration of fugitives from servitude is no new thing. 

"In the articles of >■< the United Colonies of New England, 

namely, Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, ma 
there is the following provision: 

"'It is al<o agreed that, if any servant run away from his master into any confed- 
erate jurisdiction, in such case, u] - ite Irom one magistrate in the jurisdic- 
tion out of which the said servanl fled, or upon other due proof, the said servant 
shall be either delivered to his master, or to any other that pursues and brings such 
certificate and pi . 

Very probably '.hi- compact between the colonies related to white servants, bound 
for a term of yes ere were bul lew niacin in the colonies at that early period ; 

but the principles in the law me. j. M . P> 



DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 17 

The question may now be raised — Is the clause in the con- 
stitution, and the law under it, a violation of the law of God, as 
revealed in the Scriptures? 

There are two modes of sustaining the affirmative of this 
question by Abolitionists. The first is by implication. 

The doctrine maintained by modern Abolitionists is, that 
slavery consists in claiming and holding a human being as 
property ; that, in every form of existence, it is a sin, per se — 
that is, a sin within itself, irrespective of all circumstances and 
contingencies ; that all sin should be put away instantly ; and, 
therefore, instantaneous emancipation, regardless of conse- 
quences, is the duty of every slaveholder. No passage of Scrip- 
ture is quoted that teaches this doctrine specifically. It is made 
by implication from general principles. 

If slaveholding is a sin per se, under all circumstances, then 
it is inferred that all laws to protect this species of property are 
sin; the clause of the constitution, if it means slave-labor, com- 
mands sin, and must be resisted. 

A class of Abolitionists — the Gerrit Smith party — maintain 
the constitution has nothing on the subject of slavery, as the 
word slave is not in it. 

That slavery is protected in the constitution, is not to be ques- 
tioned by any sound mind. Having been so decided by all the 
departments of government, the Supreme Court of the United 
States, and the uniform usage of all parties, it cannot now be 
called in question. 

Another class, tolerably numerous in New England, have gone 
beyond the Bible, which they represent as an antiquated book, 
and its principles as quite "behind the age." They have an 
innate laiv in each one's breast — a sentiment or feeling, mis- 
taken for conscience, and by which the immutable principles of 
right and wrong are to be adjusted. This is, with them, the 
"higher law/' that overrules the constitution and laws of the 
land — absolves Senators and Representatives in Congress from 
the oath of office — arms the colored population against the con- 
stituted authorities of the nation — makes every man a judrro of 
the law — and denies the obligation of obedience in all cases 
where a man thinks the law is unconstitutional or unjust. There 
are thousands of church members, including not a few ministers, 
who are now where Garrison and his tribe of Abolitionists were 
in 1836. They are following the same path, taking one step 
after another, in (he downward course; and unless a merciful 
God interpose, they, too, in a few years, will make, shipwreck 
of their Christian faith, as others have done before them.* 



•Tie Garrison I ribe of Abolitionists make up the old i 
Anti- Slavery Society, 1 " thai originated in modern fanatici m. Ii was lo med in Phila- 
delphia, in December, 1833. A previous local society, managed by the same faction 
had been formed in Massachusetts. On receiving the proceedings, constitution, and 
address, we perceived in thedocument elements of tn -.11111 disor- 
ganizing character, and so did we announce I r readers in Mir Ci Pioneer and 



18 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

By that class who still claim the Scriptures for authority, their 
"higher law" is found in Dent, xxiii. 15, 16: 

"Thou slialt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his 
master unto thee. 

•• He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose, 
in one of thy gates where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him. ; ' 

In order to show how this and other passages of Scripture are 
perverted from their true meaning by modern Abolitionists, it 
will be necessary to examine the facts concerning servants, or 
slaves, among the Hebrews and the surrounding nations, at the 
period of the enactment of the Hebrew laws. 

My first reply to the application of this law in Deuteronomy, 
is, that it related exclusively to the Jews, after they entered the 
land of Canaan; and to apply it to our country, and to Christians, 
is a perversion of God's word. Waiving that point, I maintain 
the law itself is perverted and misapplied. 

There were three classes of servants, or persons held as pro- 
perty, in the period of this law. 

1. Hebrews who were held in bondage by Hebrews. Calmet 
enumerates six ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty. 
In extreme poverty, lie might sell himself. (Lev. xxv. 39-41.) 
A father might sell his children. Insolvent debtors became the 
slaves of their creditors. (2 Kings, iv. 1.) A thief, if lie had no 
money to pay the fine laid on him by law. was sold for the profit 
of him whom he had robbed. 

A Hebrew was liable to be taken prisoner in war, and sold 
for a slave by the enemy. 

A Hebrew slave, who had been ransomed by a Hebrew, could 
be sold by him, but only to a Hebrew. Hebrews could not be 
held in bondage to Hebrews for a longer period than six years, 
or the jubilee ; but should the servant prefer to remain, he had 
his ear bored at the door-post, when he became a slave for 
life. (Exod. xxi. 1-6; Dent. xv. 1:2-18.) 

2. Slaves bought by Hebrews of the heathen nations. ( Lcvit. 
xxv. 44-46 :) 

" Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of thr 
heathen that are around aboul you; of (hem shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 

•• Moreover, of the children bf tbe strangers that do sojourn among you, of them 
shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land : 
ai d they shall be ■ c iion. 

Western Baptist." There was a glossary aboul these "elements" that deceived 
many religi ■ and impulsive and' unstable mi I. For 

some jri jetner, verging onward and downward into the gulf of 

fanaticism, until Garrison and his | I thr ascendancy, and obtained control 

. ligious p u-ty, claiming to be orthodox, withdrew, 

;n Anti-Si : This party became a 

political or- , but in ; doctrines the same anti-christian and de- 

moralize l : Garrison pa r political organization — denounce 

institution, the govern '.hath, the Christian ministry, and ail organi- 

zations fo ises. 1 rlcings of this party that have produced 

ordination, and negro riots, in the once law-abiding city of 
Boston. 

Thr , , the polical Abolition party joined the Van Buren faction in 1848, 

an( 3 i,., . up thr conjunction of abolitionist and •■ Free-soil" 

parties. A faction, headed bj Get d to join the coalition, and main- 

taiu a sej ■■ . ' ionization, as the true " Liberty . .:.;•. r. 



DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 19 

"'And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit 
them for a possession, they shall be your bondmen forever : but over your brethren, 
the children of Israel, ye shall not rule with rigor.*' 

These servants continued such for successive generations. 
This was a merciful law, because it brought these people under 
the influence of the Jewish system. 

When Joshua entered upon the conquest of Canaan, the com- 
mand was to exterminate the idolatrous tribes therein. But the 
Gibeonites, Chephirathites, Beerothites, and people about Ker- 
jath-Jearim, dressed themselves in old garments, took mouldy 
provisions, and pretended to come from a great distance. They 
made a league surreptitiously, in which Joshua solemnly pledged 
the faith of the nation, and they were spared. But they, and their 
children in all succeeding generations, were made slaves to the 
whole congregation, and became " hewers of wood and drawers 
of water, for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord." 
(See Joshua, ninth chapter.) 

3. The third class of slaves were those held in bondage by 
heathen and idolatrous masters out of the land of Judea. This 
class, escaping from a cruel and idolatrous master, and coming 
into Judea, were not to he delivered up. It is to this class alone 
that the law in Deut. xxv. 15, 16, applies. 

Dr. Gill considers this law as applicable to the fugitive who 
fled from an oppressive and cruel master, sought protection in 
Judea, and became a proselyte to Judaism. This law, as well 
as the one just noticed, was beneficent in its purposes. The 
same construction is given in the Targum of Jonathan. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says : 

u A servant who left an idolatrous master, that he might join himself unto God 
and bis people, was to remain. In any other case, lie was to be given up, as it 
would have been unjust to harbor a runaway slave." 

A servant, whether a Hebrew bound to serve for a term of 
years, or one bought of the heathen out of Judea, and bound 
for life, and his posterity after him, escaping from his lawful 
master, or going from one tribe to another, could not be right- 
fully harbored. And in this respect, there is some analogy in 
our government. A slave voluntarily escaping from a foreign 
country, and coming into our nation, is not delivered up to his 
former master. Hence the conduct of Abolitionists in aiding and 
secreting fugitive slaves in our country, is a violation 0? the 
Hebrew laws. The Scriptures they bring to sustain them arc 
perverted and misapplied. 

There is real danger to the morals of the people, and to the gov- 
ernment of our country, from this species of religious fanaticism 
in the northern States. This •• higher law,' 1 when stripped of its 
glossary, and seen in its true character, is but a new phase of 
the old dogma of the church ruling the state. The Bible, with 
a specious and false interpretation, is enforced as the standard 
of political government. The source and the principle are 1 1n- 
same ; the mode of application only differs. Religion and politics 



20 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

are blended. The dogmas of the church must again overrule 
legislation; Moses and Aaron occupy departments in the same 
government. The declaration of the Saviour, "Render unto 
Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and to God the things that are 
God's," is nullified. 

For a quarter of a century, numerous religionists have been 
sowing the seed that now produces a vicious harvest of lawless- 
ness and insubordination, which may yet furnish the counterpart 
to the " reign of terror" in France. 

This " higher law," claimed by Abolitionists, confounds all 
distinction between the relationship of man to God, and of man 
to man. The anarchy and lawlessness now taught by perverting 
the Scriptures and Christianity, are infinitely more dangerous 
to morals, to civil government, and to pure Christianity, than all 
the infidelity ever propagated in this nation. 

But there is a "higher law" in the New Testament, that points 
out the duty of teachers of Christianity on this very subject of 
slavery, in a mode that cannot be misunderstood, while it marks, 
in strong terms of reprobation, the conduct of Abolitionists. It 
is found in the first epistle of Paul to Timothy, chap. vi. 1-5 : 

" Let as many servints as arc under the yoke count their oivn masters as 
worth)/ of all honor, that the, name of God be not blasphemed. 

" And they that hare believing masters, let them not despise them, because 
they are brethren; bid rather do them service, because they are faithful and 
beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things leach and exhort. 

"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even 
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according la 
godliness ; 

" He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes 
of words, whereof comet h envy, strife, railing, evil surmising*, 

" Perverse dis'pulings of men of c nds, and destitute of the truth, 

supposing that gain is godliness : from such withdraw thyself. 

The terra, w ' servants under the yoke" distinguishes slavery 
from every other form of servitude. Such might have " believing 
masters." Here is the directory for ministers of the Gospel, in 
their teaching. They have here an infallible guide what to teach, 

and what they must not teach. " If any man teach otherwise, 

he is proud, knowing nothing." What a catalogue of fanaticism, 
insubordination, criminality, and folly, is here given; and yet 
this is a true picture of hundreds of 1'anaties, and of the style 
and spirit of their addresses, in the northern States Such is 
the character of a few in the State of Illinois. What a lament- 
able picture of blindness, delusion, depravity, and guilt, is^ here 
drawn. I am thankful they are scarce in this part of this State; 
and I am rejoiced to bam that the pastors of the churches in 
this city have already addressed their several congregations on 
the same subject on which I have been invited to address this 
crowded assembly to-day. Here, in the address of Paul, the 
aged, to Timothy, the evangelist, is the guide for ministers of 
the Gospel in reference to the snbjecl thai has excited so much 



DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 21 

alarm ibr our National Union, and caused our ablest and most 
venerable statesmen to turn pale — to pause amidst all former 
strife, and to affiliate in devising measures of compromise and 
conciliation. O, what reckless fanaticism — what stupidity of 
conscience — what mental and moral obliquity, must possess 
those ministers and ecclesiastical bodies to whose sayings and 
doings I have already referred you! What lamentable perver- 
sions of God's Book! What demoralizing influences have these 
men sent forth on community ! 

Is it not enough that political demagogues, for the basest par- 
tisan purposes, regardless of the sanctity of their oaths, shall 
plot the destruction of the constitution they have sworn to sup- 
port ; or proclaim a " higher law," as their guide? Must men, 
who " wear the livery of heaven," turn agitators in the very 
worst form, and defame the name of Christ, who would neither 
" strive, nor cry, nor lift up his voice in the streets?" " From 
such withdraw thyself" is the voice of the Divine Spirit.* 

Does Christian benevolence and philanthropy ask, with an 
anxious desire of doing good — "What, then, can be done for the 
slaves of the South ?" From careful, prayerful, and philanthropic 
observance of the condition of slaves for more than thirty years, 
from stand-points where the very best opportunities were af- 
forded for candid and impartial investigation of the subject in 
all its bearings ; having labored to no small extent for the spiritual 
benefit of that class of persons ; having watched the progress of 
the principles and modes of action of modern Abolitionists in the 
northern States — the speaker claims the privilege, on this occa- 
sion, to bear testimony to facts, and express his own convictions. 
Again, I repeat, that the occasion does not call for any vindi- 
cation or justification of the slavery and commerce of any of the 
human species. Nor is there any occasion for me to appear as 
the apologist of slaveholders. Each person thus situated must 
judge for himself in relation to his duty as a master, or a servant, 
according to the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures. But could 
my voice reach the multitude of religionists who for many years 
have agitated the subject of slavery, and given heed to the most 
obscene and scandalous misprescntations of slaves and their 
masters, I would say, in the name of humanity and righteousness, 
" Cease your agitation. If you desire to benefit that class, you 
must let the subject alone. All your efforts have conferred no 
benefit on the slaves, and never will. The subject belongs cx- 
clu ively to the people in the slaveholding Slates. They, and 
they alone, can produce emancipation. Your lectures and pro- 



* In the apostolic age, tfc Bixty millions of Blares in the Roman 

Empire. They existed, in large numb ind districts of country 

in which the Apostles preached; and yet, thi instruction the Divine 

Spirit has given, as a director] formini ' i - of tl l Epi ties. Ref- 

erence may he h^'l to ! Cor. vii. 21,22; Eph. vi. 5-9; Col. iii. - I it. l 

1 Tim. vi.'l-">; Titus, ii. 9, 1"; Philemon. 10—19. J. at. p. 



22 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

tests, and denunciations, and resolutions, have touched no slave- 
holder's conscience. You do not have the co-operation of those 
who are not slaveholders in the southern States. You are re- 
garded by all classes, religious and irreligious, slaveholders and 
non-slaveholders, as factious intermeddlers — as busy-bodies in 
other men's matters. If you fancy you are making progress, 
you are only deceiving yourselves. When you learn wisdom, 
you will cease your agitations, or turn your attention to some 
practical object nearer home, and expend your philanthropy 
where there is probability of success." 

People in the northern States, in most cases, do not understand 
the reasons why their labors and desires are not appreciated in 
the South. They know not the insurmountable difficulties of 
universal emancipation. A number of the free States have made 
strino-ent laws, and some of them constitutional provision, to 
exclude in future all colored persons. The people of Illinois, 
in adopting that section of their new constitution, three years 
since, gave a majority in its favor of more than thirty thousand 
votes. How, then, can it be expected that slaveholding States 
will emancipate their slaves, when the free States refuse to re- 
ceive the African race when free? There are insuperable objec- 
tions against the two races living together. This is the strong 
objection to the emancipation of slaves. Call it prejudice against 
color, or what you please, it is a barrier that cannot be sur- 
mounted. There appears but one opening in the gloom that 
surrounds us — but one luminous spot in the hemisphere — and 
that is on the African continent. The finger of Providence 
points in no other direction. The star of hope is alone in-Africa. 
And, as if to give proof of mental and moral blindness ; as if with 
the determination to fight against Providence, and follow out 
measures wholly wrong, Abolitionists, with few exceptions, have 
been the opposers of African colonization. They have poisoned 
and filled with prejudice the minds of the colored population 
who are nominally free. They have done what they could to 
prevent this mode of relief from being effectual. Even when the 
slave, panting for freedom, and trying to raise funds to purchase 
himself, or his family, has solicited aid. Abolitionists, with per- 
verted consciences, have refused the smallest pittance of relief, 
while colonizationists have proved themselves the true friends 
of the slave.* 

But to all Christians, whose minds have not become perverted 
with the fanatical doctrines that we have exposed, there is ample 
room and the largest field for doing good to the slaves throughout 
the whole South. Ministers of the Gospel may perform every 
duty of the Christian missionary to this class, on every planta- 
tion. My generous hearers will pardon the seeming egotism in 
the statement, that I have had no small amount of experience 
on this subject. 

• This fact has been demonstrated, in repeated instances, in the city of New York. 



DtftlJES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 23 

I have taught, in the form of Sabbath schools and the Bible 
class, between two and three hundred slaves to read the Bible ; 
given religious instruction, in every mode and form, to thousands 
of that class ; baptized many hundreds of professed believers ; 
raised up churches ; and assisted in the ordination of eight or ten 
colored ministers of the Gospel. I can appeal, then, to slaves 
and slaveholders for proof of fidelity and success in this depart- 
ment of evangelical labor. And I affirm, from personal know- 
ledge and experience, that ministers of Christ, who conform to 
the instructions given them, can find ample work in the religious 
instruction of slaves in all the southern States. 

Again, there has been a class of Baptists in this State, for more 
thnn forty years, anti-slavery in their position and principles. 
With these brethren, for thirty years, I have been intimate. They 
received into their churches persons holding slaves only on 
specified conditions. Their course has been inoffensive. They 
are not modern Abolitionist ; for, 

1. They never aided and secreted fugitive slaves, in violation 
of the constitution and laws. 

2. They never interfered, in any objectionable way, with the 
legal and political rights of slaveholders. They preached the 
Gospel, in an acceptable and successful manner, in slaveholding 
States. 

3. They aimed to do good to both master and servant, in a 
quiet, lawful, and peaceable mann r. 

4. They never adopted the principles, nor manifested the 
fanatical temper, of modern Abolitionists. 

5. They would not hold slaves, except on principles consistent 
with the claims of humanity. Slaveholders were received into 
their churches, only on certain conditions and restrictions. The 
term of distinction employed was, " Friends to humanity ." 
"Friend/// to the spirit and practice of hereditary slavery," 
was the term of objection. 

6. They consulted the true interests of all parties concerned. 

7. They ever upheld the constitution and laws of the country, 
in a peaceable way. Some of this class were in official stations 
in this territory and State, and took the oath to support the con- 
stitution of the United States : they never perjured themselves 
by the quibble, and under the plea, of a "higher laiv." 

I give this statement to show that good men can act consci- 
entiously in maintaining an anti-slavery position — exert an in- 
fluence in favor of liberty, mid in opposition to hereditary and 
perpetual slavery, without doing mischief. 

The abolition mania is not the only form that fanaticism lias 
put on in certain quarters within the last quarter of a century. 

Let any one attend the numerous conventions ami associations 

hear the vagrant lecturers — watch (lie current of influences of 
a vicious tendency, that are pouring their poisonous streams in 
every direction — as the speaker has done; and, if he is not 



24 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

wholly destitute of the faculty of observation, lie will see that 
the seeds of anarchy and dissoluteness are thickly sown. The 
atheism and licentiousness of France were a century in collect- 
ing the elements for the terrific eruption in 1793. The very 
same elements are fermenting in New England and New York, 
and are already leavening the population along the northern 
lakes. I am not willing to die without lifting up the voice of 
warning I say to the ministers of the Gospel around me — to 
all who may read and ponder — beware ! beware ! While the 
husbandman slept, the enemy sowed tares. A worse enemy 
than religious fanaticism cannot enter your fields. And this 
enemy ever comes in the garb of philanthropy, and a spurious 
Christianity. 

My respected hearers : Laboring under the infirmities of age.,. 
I have endeavored to discharge this duty with faithfulness. My 
thanks are due for your patient attention. My prayer to Heaven 
is, that the principles I have inculcated may find a place in 
your minds. 



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